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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'In this riveting memoir Beth persuades her ageing parents on a road trip around their former home, Malaysia. She intends to retrace their honeymoon of 45 years before, but their journey doesn't quite work out as she planned. Only the family mantra, ‘Eat first, talk later' keeps them (and perhaps the country) from falling apart. Around them, corruption, censorship of the media, detentions without trial and deaths in custody continue. Protests are put down, violently, by riot police.
Her parents argue, while, lovelorn after a failed relationship in Paris, Beth tries to turn their story into a Technicolor love story. Meanwhile, she's embroiled in a turbulent relationship with an opposition activist, Jing, who is at the forefront of the democratic struggle for change; and in Australia, Beth's second home, she is dismayed to see politicians on all sides focus on turning back the boats, stopping queue jumpers, controlling the borders of 'the lucky country'.
Eat First, Talk Later is a beautifully written, absorbing memoir of a country considered one of the multi-racial success stories of South-East Asia, with many fascinating but deeply troubling sides to it. It's a book about how we tell family and national stories; about love and betrayal; home and belonging; and about the joys of food.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Notes
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This work is dedicated to my family, without whom
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Large print.
Works about this Work
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What to Leave Out
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , February 2016;
— Review of Second Half First 2015 single work autobiography ; Eat First, Talk Later : A Memoir of Food, Family and Home 2015 single work biography ; The Women's Pages 2015 single work novel -
Best Reads – End of Story
2015
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sunday Mail , 20 December 2015; (p. 24) -
Patchwork
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 376 2015; (p. 10)
— Review of Eat First, Talk Later : A Memoir of Food, Family and Home 2015 single work biography -
[Review] Eat First, Talk Later
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 17 October 2015; (p. 29)
— Review of Eat First, Talk Later : A Memoir of Food, Family and Home 2015 single work biography
-
[Review] Eat First, Talk Later
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 17 October 2015; (p. 29)
— Review of Eat First, Talk Later : A Memoir of Food, Family and Home 2015 single work biography -
Patchwork
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 376 2015; (p. 10)
— Review of Eat First, Talk Later : A Memoir of Food, Family and Home 2015 single work biography -
What to Leave Out
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , February 2016;
— Review of Second Half First 2015 single work autobiography ; Eat First, Talk Later : A Memoir of Food, Family and Home 2015 single work biography ; The Women's Pages 2015 single work novel -
Best Reads – End of Story
2015
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sunday Mail , 20 December 2015; (p. 24)
Awards
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cMalaysia,cSoutheast Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,
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Kuala Lumpur,
cMalaysia,cSoutheast Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,